1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, apparatus and method for learning, and more specifically, relates to a system, apparatus and method for interactively and adaptively maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, retaining and retrieving knowledge and skills including flexibly scheduling learning, retaining and retrieving knowledge and skills based on various factors and input information.
2. Description of Background Art
Previous systems and methods for learning have focused on presenting an item or items to be learned in a paired-associate format, such as a cue and response system. These prior art systems and methods have relied heavily on the motivation and metacognitive skills of the student and therefore, have varying degrees of effectiveness and efficiency. More importantly, such prior art methods and systems have very limited success in terms of a student actually acquiring knowledge or skills rapidly, ensuring that the student maintains the knowledge and skills to a high degree of retention for an extended period of time, and enabling the student to retrieve knowledge and skills automatically at some future date.
In a well known prior art method, a paired-associate learning method is embodied in a group of flashcards which may be presented manually or electronically via a computer, for example. In a typical example of such a method, a student starts by separating flashcards into two groups: known and unknown. The student studies each unknown flashcard by first viewing the question on one side of the flashcard and then formulating a response to the question. The student then turns the card over and views the answer provided. The student judges the adequacy of his response by comparing his answer to the correct answer. If the student believes he has learned or xe2x80x9cknowsxe2x80x9d the paired-associate, that flashcard is placed in the group of known items. When the student has studied all of the flashcards in the first unknown group, and all of the flashcards have been transferred to the group of known flashcards, the student may review the group of known items in the same manner as described above. In an alternative method, the cards can be shuffled for learning. Thus, in this method, the learning and review is performed by a student simply looking at flashcards to determine correct responses and reviewing the flashcards as desired, with no fixed schedule or sequence.
In another method invented by B. F. Skinner, a method of learning and reviewing is provided. More specifically, Skinner discloses a machine which presents a number of paired-associate questions and answers. The learning machine has an area for providing questions, and an area where the user writes in an answer to these questions. At the time the question is presented, the correct answer is not visible. A student reads a question and then writes in an answer in the area provided. The user turns a handle which causes a clear plastic shield to cover his answer while revealing the correct answer. The user judges the adequacy of his response. If the user judges that his answer is adequate, he slides a lever which punches a hole in the question and answer sheet and turns a handle revealing the next question. If the answer is judged to be inadequate, the user simply turns a handle revealing the next question. After all of the questions have been answered a first time, the user can make a second pass through the questions and answers. The machine operates such that only the questions which were answered incorrectly in the first pass are viewable during the second pass so as to provide a review of questions which were answered incorrectly. Thus, this conventional method provides a crude method of enabling review of missed questions.
A slightly more advanced method was invented by Sebastian Leitner and described in xe2x80x9cSo Lernt Man Lernen.xe2x80x9d The method involves studying flashcards as in the method described above, but in addition, involves using a specially constructed box to calculate review schedules. More specifically, the box has five compartments increasing in depth from the first compartment to the fifth compartment. According to Leitner""s method, a student takes enough xe2x80x9cunknownxe2x80x9d flashcards to fill the first compartment and places them in the first compartment. The student begins by taking the first card out of the box and reading the question. The student then constructs an answer and compares it to the correct answer on the back of the card. If the student is correct, the student places the flashcard in the second compartment. If the student cannot construct an answer, or if the student""s answer is incorrect, the student places the flashcard at the back of the group of cards in the first compartment. This process continues until all of the cards have been moved to the second compartment and the student stops the learning session. The next learning session begins by placing new xe2x80x9cunknownxe2x80x9d cards into the first compartment. The process of studying and sorting is performed as described above until once again, no cards remain in the first compartment. At some future date, the second compartment will be full of cards placed there during previous learning sessions. At that time, the student begins to study the cards in the second compartment, except this time, known cards are placed into the third compartment and unknown cards are placed backed into the first compartment. New cards are continually introduced into the first compartment and are moved through the compartments as they are learned and reviewed Cards that are easily remembered or known are moved from the more shallow compartments to the deeper compartments and therefore are reviewed less and less frequently. Cards that are more difficult to learn are put back into the more shallow compartments for more frequent review. This method provides a crude form of scheduled review of learned items based on item difficulty.
A computer-based version of Leitner""s method is provided in the German language computer software program entitled Lernkartei PC 7.0 and in the Spanish language computer software entitled ALICE (Automatic Learning In a Computerized Environment) 1.0. With ALICE 1.0, question and answer units are presented to a user and the number of cards and interval of time between study sessions are distributed to adapt to a user""s work habits.
Other conventional methods have recognized the importance of developing a system to present items for review. For example, a computer program developed by Piotr Wozniak in Poland and referred to as xe2x80x9cSuperMemoxe2x80x9d uses a mathematical model of the decline of memory traces to determine spacing of repetitions to maintain long term retention of paired-associates.
In another prior art method described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,545,044, 5,437,553 and 5,577,919 issued to Collins et al., paired-associates are presented to a user for learning. However, unlike the conventional methods described above, in this invention, the user is first queried as to whether a particular item is perceived to be known or unknown, not whether the user actually knows the item, or knows the correct answer to a question. That is, a user is asked to determine whether they think they know the correct response to the cue, not what the correct response actually is. Then, a sequence of perceived known items and perceived unknown items is generated and presented to the user in the form of cue and response for learning. Similar to the first conventional method described above, the question of the perceived known or unknown items is presented to a user, the user constructs a response to the presented cue and then compares the constructed response to the correct response.
The prior art methods described above have generally proven to be only marginally effective for learning, retaining and retrieving knowledge and skills. The prior art methods often require a user to schedule and manage the learn, review and test processes which consequently consumes a portion of the cognitive workload of the user thereby reducing efficiency of learning, retaining and retrieving knowledge and skills. The cognitive workload is the amount of mental work that an organism, such as a human, can produce in a specified time period. By diverting some of the cognitive workload away from learning, the organism is distracted from learning and cannot devote all of the available cognitive resources to learning.
Furthermore, because the user is making subjective judgements of perceived knowledge, they provide feedback to the method that is distorted by certain cognitive illusions inherent in self-paced study. These subjective inputs result in less effective learning than would otherwise be possible. Furthermore, even though some of the prior art methods monitor progress of learning or reviewing or testing, future learning or reviewing or testing are not modified based on a student""s actual performance results.
In addition, most prior art methods seek to train or teach knowledge or skills only to a level of recall in which a person or organism must expend significant cognitive effort to attempt to remember an item previously learned. Conventional methods have not been successful in training or teaching knowledge or skills to a level of automaticity in which performance is characterized by an extremely rapid response without conscious effort or attention.
Also, there are many different theories, scientific principles, and concepts relating to learning, memory and performance which seek to explain how humans and other organisms are able to encode, store and retrieve knowledge and skills. Although these theories, principles and concepts have been studied, they have not been quantitatively measure and applied in a synergistic and effective manner to improve learning, reviewing and retrieving knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the prior art methods do not train a student to become a better learner by monitoring and improving their metacognitive skills, but merely provide a marginal improvement in the ability to encode and recall learned items.
To overcome the problems described above and to provide other significant and previously unattainable advantages, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system including various apparatuses and methods for maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, reviewing and retrieving knowledge and skills in an interactive and adaptive matter that minimizes the cognitive workload or mental effort of the user, while minimizing or eliminating forgetting of the knowledge or skills learned.
In addition, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system including apparatuses and methods for allowing a user to encode, store and retrieve knowledge and skills flexibly and efficiently in response to overt and covert inputs from the user or other sources of input information, such as a desired level of memory strength, the date when the knowledge or skills are needed, the schedule of availability to use the system and many other factors.
More specifically, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system including various apparatuses and methods for maximizing the ease of use of the system and maximizing the results of learning, retaining and retrieving of knowledge and skills by allowing a user, administrator or other input information source to interactively and flexibly input information to be learned, identify confusable items to be learned, select desired levels of initial learning and final retention of knowledge or skills, and input preferences regarding scheduling of learning, reviewing and testing and other input information relating to the learning, reviewing and testing of knowledge or skills. Based on these and other input information, the system schedules operation of the learn, review and test operations in the most efficient way to guarantee that the user achieves the desired degree of learning within the desired time period.
Furthermore, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system including apparatuses and methods which include a Learn Module for presenting new knowledge or skills to a user, a Review Module for presenting previously learned knowledge or skills to a user in order to maintain a desired level of retention of the knowledge or skills learned previously, and a Test Module for testing of previously learned knowledge or skills. Each of the three modules are preferably adapted to interact with the other two modules and the future operation of each of the Learn, Review and Test modules and scheduling thereof can be based on previous performance in the three modules to maximize effectiveness and efficiency of operation.
The advantages achieved by basing the interaction and scheduling of the Learn, Review, and Test Modules on previous performance in the three modules include achieving much more effective and efficient combined and overall operation of each of the three main modules so that a user encodes, stores and retrieves knowledge and skills much more effectively and efficiently, while also becoming a better learner.
Also, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system including various methods and apparatuses which provide an extremely effective method of encoding, storing and retrieving knowledge or skills which are quantitatively based and interactively modified according to a plurality of scientific disciplines such as neuroscience (the scientific study of the nervous system and the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with learning and memory), cognitive psychology (an approach to psychology that emphasizes internal mental processes), and behavioral psychology (an approach to psychology that emphasizes the actions or reactions produced in response to external or internal stimuli), as well as scientific principles including: active recall (the process whereby a student constructs a response to a presented cue as opposed to passive recall in which a student simply observes a cue and response paired presented), the alternative forced-choice method (a test of memory strength sensitive to the level of recognition in which a cue is presented followed by the correct response randomly arranged among several alternative choices called distracters, and in which the student must discriminate the correct response from the distracters), arousal (the student""s experience of feeling more or less energetic which feeling is accompanied by physiological changes in perspiration, pupil diameter, respiration and other physiological reactions, and which influences information processing, in particular, the encoding and retrieval of information), attention (the ability or power to concentrate mentally by focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of all others), automaticity (performance characterized by rapid response without conscious attention or effort), the auditory rehearsal loop (the process of rehearsal, usually via subvocal speech, to maintain verbal information in memory, in which the loop is capable of holding approximately 1.5 to 2.0 seconds worth of information), classical conditioning (the procedure in which an organism comes to display a conditioned response to a neutral conditioned stimulus that has been paired with a biologically significant unconditioned stimulus that evoked an unconditioned response), cognitive workload (the amount of mental work that a student produces or can produce in a specified time period), confidence (a subjective judgement made regarding the degree of certainty of the correctness of a constructed response or of a subjective evaluation), consolidation (the initial period of time in memory formation when information in a relatively transient state is transformed to a more permanent, retrievable state), consolidation period (the interval during which the transformation to the more permanent retrievable state occurs), contiguity (two items occurring or being presented close together in time), contingency (two items being presented or occurring in a manner such that the occurrence of one item increases the probability that another item will occur, which is required to form a conditioned association), discrimination (the act of distinguishing between two or more items by noting the differences between the two or more items), ease of learning (a metacognitive judgement made in advance of knowledge acquisition in the form of a prediction about what will be easy or difficult to learn), encoding specificity (the theory that memory performance is better when tested in the presence of the same cues that were present when the memory was formed), encoding variability (the theory that memory performance is better when multiple cues are available to generate a desired response), feeling of knowing (a metacognitive judgement made during or after knowledge or skill acquisition as to whether a given, currently non-recallable item is known or will be remembered on a subsequent retention test), generalization (when a response is evoked by a cue other than the one it was conditioned to), habituation (a decrease in response as a result of repeated exposed to a stimulus), instrumental conditioning (a situation in which a particular stimulus occurs and if an organism generates a response, then a particular reinforcer will occur), interference (a negative relationship between the learning of two sets of material), judgement of learning (a metacognitive judgement during or soon after knowledge acquisition which is a prediction about future test performance on currently recallable items), the labor-in-vain effect (in self-paced study, students make metacognitive judgements that determine the allocation of effort and often study beyond the point where any benefit is derived), latency of recall (a measure of time required to construct a response to a presented cue), learned helplessness (when a negative reinforcement is provided independent of a student""s performance, the student behaves as though they have no control over their situation), long term potentiation (when appropriate stimulation is provided to some areas of the brain, there is a long term increase in the magnitude of the response of the cells to further stimulation), memory activation (the availability of an item in memory such that items which have been recalled recently have relatively higher activation than those that have not), memory strength (a property of memory which increases with repeated practice and is the degree to which a cue can activate a memory record), metacognition (the process of monitoring and controlling mental processes, particularly those associated with the acts of learning and retrieving), overlearning (learning that continues past the point where the student is first able to construct the correct response to a presented cue), paired-associate learning (a memory procedure in which the student learns to give a response when presented with a cue), performance (the observable qualities of learning; sometimes measured by the ability to discriminate a signal from noise), probability of recall (a measure of the likelihood that a student will be able to construct the correct response to a presented cue), rapid serial visual presentation (the presentation of a passage of text, one word or phrase at a time, serially, each in the same position on a display, so as to increase reading speeds and eliminate saccades required in normal reading), rehearsal (the process of repeating information to oneself in order to remember it), reinforcement (following a behavior with an especially powerful event such as a reward or punishment), the retrieval practice effect (the act of retrieving an item from memory facilitates subsequent retrieval access of that item and the act of retrieval does not simply strengthen an item""s representation in memory, it also enhances the retrieval process), savings in relearning (a measure of memory strength calculated by measuring the amount of time necessary to relearn an item to the same criteria as that attained in the initial learning session), sensitization (increase in response as a result of repeated exposure to a stimulus), the serial position effect (the observation that items at the beginning and end of a list that are learned in serial order are more easily remembered than items in the middle of the list), signal detection theory (a method used to measure the criterion an observer uses in making decisions about signal existence and to measure the observer""s sensitivity that is independent of his decision criteria), the spacing effect (the finding that for a given amount of study time, spaced presentations yield substantially better learned than massed presentations), the time of day effect (differences in performance on learning tasks and other factors relating to circadian rhythms depending on the time of day), transfer appropriate processing (the concept that memory performance is better when a student processes an item in the same way in which the item was processed during learning or study), vigilance (the process of paying close and continuous attention), Von Restorff effect (the observation that an item from one category that is learned as a part of a serial list of items all from a different category will be more easily recalled than items from around it in the list) and many other important factors which are applied in novel and unique ways, both individually and in combination with other factors. For the first time, the above-listed factors or phenomena are measured in a quantifiable manner and the measurements of the effects of these factors are used to interactively and adaptively modify the processes of learning, reviewing and testing knowledge and skills to achieve results never before obtainable.
While the above-listed factors have been studied in the past, and the effects thereof sometimes even measured, the measurements have not been quantified and then used in a feedback system to continuously and interactively modify future encoding, storage and retrieval of knowledge and skills to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency.
The system, apparatuses and methods of preferred embodiments of the present invention may be used to perform learning, reviewing and testing of any type of knowledge and skills in any format. The information including knowledge or skills to be learned, reviewed and tested, referred to as xe2x80x9ccontent,xe2x80x9d can be obtained from any source including but not limited to a text source, an image source, an audible sound source, a computer, the Internet, a mechanical device, an electrical device, an optical device, the actual physical world, etc. Also, the content may already be included in the system or may be input by a user, an administrator or other source of information. While the knowledge or skills to be learned, reviewed and tested may be presented in the form of a cue and response or question and answer in preferred embodiments of the present invention, other methods and formats for presenting items to be learned, reviewed and tested may be used.
More specifically, the content is preferably arranged in paired-associate (cue and response) format for ease of learning. The paired-associates may be presented visually, auditorily, kinesthetically or in any other manner in which knowledge or skills can be conveyed. The content may be also arranged in a serial or non-serial procedural order for skill-based learning. Any other arrangements where there is any form of a cue with an explicit or implicit paired response or responses are appropriate for use in the systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention.
In one specific preferred embodiment, a system includes a Learn Module, a Review Module and a Test Module, each of which is arranged to interact and adapt based on the performance and user results in the other two modules and the particular module itself. That is, operation and functioning of each of the Learn, Review and Test Modules are preferably changed in accordance with how a user performed in all modules. The Learn Module, the Review Module and the Test Module preferably define a main engine of the system which enables information to be encoded, stored and retrieved with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
A Discriminator Module may be included in the main engine to assist with the learning, reviewing and testing of confusable items.
A Schedule Module may also be included in the main engine to schedule the timing of operation of each of the Learn, Review and Test Modules. The scheduling is preferably based on a user""s performance on each of the Learn, Review and Test modules, in addition to input information. The Schedule Module completely eliminates all scheduling planning and tasks which are normally the responsibility of the user, and thereby greatly increases the cognitive workload and metacognitive skills that the user can devote completely to learning, reviewing and testing of knowledge or skills.
Further, a Progress Module may be included in the main engine for monitoring a user""s performance on each of the Learn, Review and Test Modules so as to provide input to the system and feedback to the user whenever desired. The Progress Module presents critical information to the user about the processes of learning, reviewing and testing in such a manner as to enable the user to increase his metacognitive skills and become a much better learner both with the system of preferred embodiments of the present invention and also outside of the system.
Also, a Help Module may be provided to allow a user to obtain further instructions and information about how the system works and each of the modules and functions thereof. The Help Module may include a help assistant that interactively determines when a user is having problems and provides information and assistance to overcome such difficulty and make the system easier to use. The Help Module may provide visual, graphical, kinesthetic or other types of help information.
It should be noted that although in the preferred embodiment of the present invention described in the preceding paragraph, the system preferably includes an interactive combination of Learn, Review and Test Modules, each module can be operated independently, and each module has unique and novel features, described below, which are independent of the novel combination of elements and the interactive and adaptive operation of the main engine described above.
In addition, other modules may be provided and used with the system described above. These other modules are preferably not included as part of the main engine, but instead are preferably arranged to interact with the main engine or various modules therein. For example, a Create Module may be provided outside of but operatively connected to the main engine to allow for input of knowledge or skills to be learned, retained or retrieved. The Create Module thus enables a user, administrator or other party to input, organize, modify and manage items to be learned so as to create customized lessons.
An Input Module may also be included and arranged similar to the Create Module. The Input Module is preferably arranged to allow a user, administrator, or other party to input any information that may affect operation of the modules of the main engine. Such input information may include information about which of the main engine modules is desired to be activated, changes in scheduling of learning, reviewing or testing, real world feed back which affect the learning, reviewing and testing and any other information that is relevant to the overall operation of the system and the modules contained in the main engine.
Also, a Connect Module may be provided outside of but operatively connected to the main engine to all external systems such as computers, the Internet, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, and other communication or information transmission apparatuses, to be connected to the main engine. In fact, the Connect Module may be used for a variety of purposes including allowing any source of information to be input to the main engine, allowing multiple users to use the system and main engine at the same time, allowing a plurality of systems or main engines to be connected to each other so that systems can communicate. Other suitable connections may also be achieved via the connect module.
Another preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a method of learning including the steps of presenting knowledge or skills to be learned so that the knowledge or skills to be learned become learned knowledge or skills; presenting the learned knowledge or skills for review in a way that is different from the way in which the knowledge or skills are presented during learning, and presenting knowledge or skills for reviewing or testing whether the learned knowledge or skills have actually been learned. The method includes a step of monitoring each of the above steps and changing scheduling of each step based on progress in each step without the user knowing that monitoring or scheduling changes are occurring.
As noted above, with respect to the Input Module, the main engine and the methods performed thereby, can communicate with the real world allowing for feedback, information exchange and modification of the operation of the modules of the main engine based on real world information. All of these modules are preferably interactive with the Schedule Module and scheduling process which determines sequence of operation of the three modules and responds to the input information from the various input sources and optimizes the schedule of operation of the learn, review, and test processes.
The system, including the various methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention, is constructed to have a highly adaptive interface that makes the system extremely streamlined and progressively easier to use each time a user operates any of the modules of the system. The system preferably prompts a new user for identification information such as a password or other textual, graphical, physiological or other identifying data that identifies each user. Then, the adaptive interface determines the pattern of usage, and with what level of skill that particular user has operated the system. Based on this information, the system adapts to the user""s familiarity level with the system and changes the presentation of information to the user to make it easier and quicker to use the system. For example, cues, instructions, help messages and other steps may be skipped if a particular user has operated the system many times successfully. Preferably, the Help module is preferably available should an advanced user forget how to operate the system.
The various systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention may take various forms including a signal carrier wave format to be used on an Internet-based system, computer software or machine-executable or computer-executable code for operation on a processor-based system such as a computer, a telephone, a personal digital assistant or other information transmission device. Also, the systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention may be applied to non-processor based systems which include but are not limited audio tapes, video tapes, paper-based systems including calendars, books, and any other documents.
The items to be learned, reviewed and tested using the systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention are not limited. That is, items to be learned, reviewed and tested can be any knowledge, skill, or other item of information or training element which is desired to be learned initially and retrieved at a later date, or used to improve or build a knowledge base or skill base, to change behavior or thought processes, and to increase the ability to learn, review and test other items. For example, the systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention may be used for all types of educational teaching and instruction, test preparation for educational institutions and various certifications such as CPA, bar exams, etc., corporate training, military and armed forces training, training of police offices and fire/rescue personnel, advertising and creating consumer preferences and purchasing patterns, mastering languages, learning to play musical instruments, learning to type, and any other applications involving various knowledge or i skills. That is, the real-world applications of the systems, methods and apparatuses of preferred embodiments of the present invention are not limited in any sense.
Other features, advantages, elements and modifications of preferred embodiments of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of the present invention below.